Sponsor Statement for HB 45

Runaway and missing children

HB 45 provides a technical correction that occurred when my comprehensive re-write of the juvenile code was combined with Senator Steve Frank's legislation on runaway's following the last legislative session. When these two bills were combined a core piece of Senator Frank's legislation was lost. The reviser of bill needs this legislation to fix the problem.

This bill returns to a parent or guardian the decision to allow an unemancipated minor to remain on the street or to require the minor to return home. A runaway minor should not have the right of refusal as to where the minor should live. This decision should lie with the minor's parent, legal guardian, or in remote cases, a peace officer.

When you read the paper and learn of juveniles committing crime, vandalism, or living on the streets, you may ask yourself: "Where were these kids parents?" When you drive home late at night and see teens or younger children out on the street it is not just the parents who are at fault. Please remember that State law gives these children veto power over their parent's decision for the minor's return home.

We all agree that it is not in a minor's best interest for the minor to be "habitually absent from home or refusing to accept available care" (AS 47.10.010(a)(1)). It was not intentional for our statutes to read that a minor who has run away from home, must first consent to her or his return to that home. HB 45 corrects this problem.